TMW #51: The Surfer, The Uninvited and Andor eps 7-9 reviewed
Your weekly review round-up, plus recommendations from the Wingman team
Happy freaky Friday
Sorry to disappoint any fans of Curtis/Lohan body-swapping larks - the ‘freaky’ was in honour of Nicolas Cage, back on cinema screens in The Surfer (hey, if his title can mislead, then so can we). Is his sandy psycho-thriller truly unhinged, or just mildly kooky? Read our review to find out. We’re also bringing you our take on dramedy The Uninvited (featuring men of the moment Walter Goggins and Pedro Pascal) and the penultimate run of Andor Season 2.
Further down the Wing, we’ve got another batch of below-the-radar recommendations and a Trailer Club where the main attraction is Spike Lee and Denzel Washington’s first get-together in almost two decades, Highest 2 Lowest.
If you’ve got a hankering to read our newsletter from top 2 bottom, how about purchasing a monthly or annual subscription? Like Nicolas Cage, we promise to entertain, amuse and surprise - and we’re always on the go.
As ever, any likes, shares, restacks or comments you can spare are the very opposite of uninvited, and carefully filed in our film-loving hearts (too much? Hey, it’s Cage week, there is no ‘too much’).
Enjoy the newsletter and we’ll see you on Tuesday for more movie musings.
Matthew (Matt and Jordan)
The Surfer
15, in cinemas now
⭐⭐⭐⭐☆
“Before you can surf, you must suffer,” barks Scally (Julian McMahon), the big bad of Lorcan Finnegan’s (Vivarium, Nocebo) film. Spoiler alert: though it rarely leaves the beach, there’s not a great deal of surfing in The Surfer - but there is an awful lot of suffering. Virtually all of it is inflicted on Nicolas Cage, who gives one of his masterclasses in unravelling (see also… most of his CV, tbh).
Cage plays the eponymous, unnamed character, who’s returned to his hometown on the Australian coast (the fictitious Luna Bay) accompanied by his teenage son (Finn Little), aiming to buy his former family home and catch some waves. Only the locals aren’t so keen. “Don’t live here, don’t surf here,” one of Scally’s many acolytes spits at Cage, who nonetheless maintains his (birth)right to do as he pleases. Alas, our Surfer is fighting against the tide; turns out pretty much everyone is a member of Scally’s localist cult, including the cops and coffee vendors.
They beat his body, mess with his mind and pinch his property (“Dude, that’s my board and I want it back!”). Given this combo of set-up and actor, plus on-the-nose opening metaphor (“all waves reach breaking point… a short, sharp shock of violence on the shore”), you may have a reasonable idea where this is all going. Like Finnegan’s other work, The Surfer is a slippery, surreal beast, one that continually toys with revenge-movie norms and Cage-rage expectations.
The hallucinatory vibe is conveyed through striking visuals: fish-eye lensing, blood-orange and acid-green filters and swathes of heat haze - the latter reinforcing the ambiguity of unfolding events (has the Aussie sun gone to Cage’s head?). What’s clear, though, is that Finnegan and writer Thomas Martin are exploring ideas of toxic masculinity. Cloaked in red and framed by flames, McMahon cuts a demonic dash as the guru-like Scally. But Cage’s character is also a certain type of entitled male, which means there’s some perverse pleasure to be had in watching him spiral ever downward (the puddle drinking is a particular low point).
It’s safe to label The Surfer a dark comedy, though for every LOL (like the classic Cage-ism, “Eat the rat!”) there’s a moment of genuine menace or discomfort. It can be a gruelling watch (not least in the protracted final reckoning), but its intensity, burning colours and sheer loopiness will give lovers of midnight movies - if not sports fans - plenty to celebrate. (Matthew Leyland)
IN SHORT: A worthy addition to the Nicolas un-Caged canon; even if you’ve seen Pig, Mandy, et al, there’s something fresh and surprising here.
STAY FOR THE END CREDITS? No bonus scenes, but the aqua background and a few echo-y Cage soundbites stop the roll feeling routine.
RAT TALE: Cage’s passion for improv gained one co-star a big role, according to Finnegan: “The whole thing with the dead rat wasn’t exactly scripted,” he told Variety. “[Nicolas] became very attached to it and liked to keep it in his pocket.”
The Uninvited
15, in cinemas now
⭐⭐⭐☆☆
This comedy-drama premiered at the South by Southwest film festival in spring 2024, but its delayed arrival in cinemas gets a boost by the increased profile of two of its stars. Walton Goggins (Fallout, The White Lotus) and Pedro Pascal (well, everything) have never been hotter, shining a brighter spotlight on this low-key dramedy by first-time writer/director Nadia Conners. The Uninvited quickly becomes intriguing in a way that feels effortless - the setting is the Hollywood Hills house party of one-time actor Rose (Elizabeth Reaser) and agent Sammy (Goggins), who are throwing a bash to impress client Gerald (Rufus Sewell). Movie star Lucien (Pascal) will also show up at some point among the glamorous coterie, but disrupting the event early doors is Helen (Lois Smith), an old woman who arrives at the house, believing she lives there.
Helen’s presence throws a gauze of the supernatural over proceedings (Did she really live there? Is she related to Rose? Is she from another time?) adding a faintly eerie dimension to an otherwise frequently funny set-up. Guests get trapped in toilets, marital and career complications bubble to the surface, and Rose and Sammy’s kid won’t stay in bed. It’s a occasionally a little too loose for its own good, and there are certain guests you want to spend a little more time small-talking with, and others that have you contemplating a French exit, but it’s worth watching for a full-bore Goggins and a particularly impressive performance by Reaser. A welcome reminder of her considerable talents. (Matt Maytum)
GUEST WHO? 94-year-old Lois Smith has an impressive CV: you might have seen her in East of Eden, Five Easy Pieces, Twister, The Nice Guys and Lady Bird among others, and she was also a regular in True Blood.
Find listings at theuninvited.movie
Andor S2
(Eps 7-9 streaming now, Disney+)
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Andor has the kind of reputation that can be a burden. How could any show live up to the ecstatic reaction to season one? The latest three-episode arc does that and more. It’s not only the best bit of Star Wars we’ve had since Disney bought Lucasfilm, it’s among the most sophisticated, thrilling and powerful chapters in a galaxy far, far away.
The centrepiece of these three episodes, and perhaps the show as a whole, is the massacre on Ghorman. A masterclass in high-end TV making, the breathlessly intense genocide (as Mon Mothma later puts it) of the Ghorman people delivers on the queasy, season-long build-up and its place in Star Wars history as the event that ignites the rebellion. The show even finds time to resolve newly conflicted Syril’s years-long pursuit of Cassian amid the chaos, putting a darkly comic button on the tragically one-sided rivalry.
The immediate fallout of the massacre – Mon Mothma’s revolutionary speech to the senate and her subsequent escape from Coruscant – is equally tense and exhilarating. The stakes couldn't feel higher, and even though Andor’s prequel status means there’s only one possible outcome, it’s a testament to the show’s craft that it scarcely matters.
As always, there’s some top-tier, morally complex character work going on amid the blaster fire and espionage. That Luthen actively wants the Empire to cross a line on Ghorman, knowing it’s the push the people need to rise up against Palpatine and his Imperial army, is exactly the kind of difficult grey zone that separates Andor from the more binary divisions between good and evil elsewhere in Star Wars. George Lucas may have made the movies for kids, but Andor proves there’s ample space for grown-up storytelling in this corner of the universe.
These episodes also give us a satisfying nod to the Force. In typically grounded Andor fashion, it’s not a Jedi, but a Force Healer who identifies Cassian as a crucial ‘messenger’ in the rebellion. It’s a message Bix takes to heart, setting up a climactic speech that lands like an emotional sledgehammer and, impressively, adds an extra layer of tragedy to Cassian’s doomed fate in Rogue One. Before the first season was released, there were legitimate questions about why Disney were bankrolling a prequel to a prequel, but Andor proves great storytelling can come from anywhere. (Jordan Farley)
FURTHER READING: Want to hear Mon Mothma’s Rebel-rousing speech teased at the end of episode 9? ‘Secret Cargo’, the 18th episode of Star Wars: Rebels season three has you covered.
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